Given that many PSUs are rebadged from only a small number of makers it's very interesting to see a fanless model getting the rebadge treatment. Shows that they're no longer a niche item I suppose. This can only be a good thing for people like us as it should mean greater availability and competition.

One question about the review:How can it be rated Editor's Choice when it is admitted that in a few areas (questionable weight and how safe this is, voltage regulation, low power efficiency) it is not as good as the Seasonic Platinum 520 fanless? Surely Editor's Choice should be the absolute best model available? Maybe I am reading it from a different perspective but I'm sure it's a good PSU none the less.

One question about the review:How can it be rated Editor's Choice when it is admitted that in a few areas (questionable weight and how safe this is, voltage regulation, low power efficiency) it is not as good as the Seasonic Platinum 520 fanless? Surely Editor's Choice should be the absolute best model available? Maybe I am reading it from a different perspective but I'm sure it's a good PSU none the less.

There are many product categories in which we've granted multiple EC awards. This is perfectly reasonable, imo -- there's certainly more than one product in most categories of goods (in or outside computing) which I'd be very happy to use, even if the balance of strengths & weaknesses is not the same from one to the next. There are no "perfect" products (esp. if they are complex) so this is just the way it is.

With the Rosewill, the complete absence of electronic noise under 200W is a major plus, for me. Since the Kingwin sample 18 mos ago shared the same characteristic, it seems reasonable to believe it to be true of most samples. With the Seasonic, it's the overall superior electronic performance, lower weight and totally detachable cables, offset by a higher risk of running into a sample with higher electronic noise. Right now, it also more available (ie, in stock at Newegg and priced $10 lower.)

Before that, I had a Seasonic X-1050 for 2 months. I was a bit disappointed. At around 150-200W the fan started to spin. Much earlier than promised (30%). And the fan made much more noise than I had anticipated. I also used my old Zalman ZM-1000W for about 2 days. And the ZM-1000W had terrible coil-whine under load. So I was a bit mistrustful about any new PSU.

The SuperFlower Fanless 500W is awesome !

Well, from a noise perspective. I can't test effeciency. But the noise characteristics are awesome. I can hear no noise. No electrical noise, no whine, nothing. And it hardly gets warm. (We have 230V here in the EU, so I guess I get 90-95% efficiency).

My system is getting quieter and quieter. (Watercooled, pump in a separate cupboard with noise insulation, etc). There was still noise coming from my case. I switched off the casefans: hardly any improvement. (Good: my casefans are silent). I switched off my 2x HDDs (Samsung HD204UI): all noise gone ! (I had never realized how much noise HDDs make, even when not seeking). In stead of just a little less noise, basically all noise was gone. I had expected to hear the PSU, or maybe something on the motherboard. But nothing. So the SuperFlower was making absolutely no noise. I stuck my head inside the case, still couldn't hear anything. (Note, this was with the PC idling, so pulling only ~80-100W).

They should make these fanless PSUs in lighter versions. Say 250-300W ones, for half the price. I would then recommend them to everyone of my friends and family. So they can have reasonably priced quiet desktops. (Fanless PSU, IVB/Haswell with low-speed cpu-fan, integrated GPU). Let's hope fanless PSUs become more popular.

Before that, I had a Seasonic X-1050 for 2 months. I was a bit disappointed. At around 150-200W the fan started to spin. Much earlier than promised (30%).

The fan does not spin up by load but by temperature. Although these are related as more load equals more heat, something might be wrong here. Was the PSU properly ventilated? Are you in a very hot place? If not, I'd be trying for an RMA.

Gryzemuis wrote:

They should make these fanless PSUs in lighter versions. Say 250-300W ones, for half the price.

I wish there were too however it seems like the money in PSUs is continuously going for more and more power. For many lower power systems a normal PSU running fanlessly would be sufficient. Makes we wonder if a Gold rated 300-400W PSU could run fanless at 100-150W all of the time.

The fan does not spin up by load but by temperature. Although these are related as more load equals more heat, something might be wrong here. Was the PSU properly ventilated? Are you in a very hot place? If not, I'd be trying for an RMA.

I think I remember in reviews that the claim was that the fan would spin up at 30% load, which would be at ~310W. My PSU was in a Fractal Design Arc Midi (bottom placement) with 3 casefans. If that wasn't good enough, then nothing is. (Remember, I am trying to go for a quiet/silent PC).

I sold my X-1050 on a local enthousiast site. For 75% of the new price. It was sold within 2-3 days to a kid 10km from here. That was the first time I sold something online. Maybe I should sell more old stuff that I got.

Quote:

I wish there were too however it seems like the money in PSUs is continuously going for more and more power. For many lower power systems a normal PSU running fanlessly would be sufficient. Makes we wonder if a Gold rated 300-400W PSU could run fanless at 100-150W all of the time.

In 2008 I needed a new PSU, and I bought a Zalman ZM-1000W, because it was recommened here. It worked well (although in a machine with stock CPU and GPU coolers). I bought the Seasonic X-1050 because I switched to watercooling, trying to make my machine silent. The recommendation on this site (with both PSUs) was: buy a heavy PSU, then it won't work near max capacity, and thus will get less warm. I think I'm done with that line of reasoning.

Because everyone is buying and testing and recommending such high-wattage PSUs, we might all start to feel we need high wattage. I was slightly worried that my SuperFlower 500W would not be enough for my 3570K(@4GHz) and gtx680. Could I increase my CPU to 4.2GHz or 4.4GHz without breaking the 500W limit ? Could I increase GPU power budget by 30% ?

I bought a power-meter. 15 euros. I did only a little testing. The BioShock Infinite benchmark (with no v-sync) ran at 250W from the socket ! Crysis3 ran at 250-260W most of the time, I only saw one spike over 300W. I am relieved. 250W while gaming sounds pretty good. A 500W PSU is more than enough for me. I can overclock a little more, and add extra components if needed. Adding another gtx680 might be pushing it, so I won't try that. But for the rest, the PSU looks fit for the job in my PC.

Why not? Since you're only using half the power envelope, while most of your PC components are stressed, I don't see why your PSU couldn't support another gtx680 (TDP ~195W).

Maybe.But I only tested for 20-30 minutes. I should do a bit more testing (more games, more situations, longer). But during that brief testing, I did see power usage spike over 300W during Crysis 3. Maybe up to 350W even. I tested only for 20-30 minutes, because I was already relieved that I wasn't getting close to 500W at all. Spikes with 2x gtx680x might get close to 500W. But it isn't important now.

I wasn't planning on doing SLI anyway. Cost would be too high, as I'd need to buy a 2nd waterblock. I rather wait till nVidia releases its 700 series of new cards. And buy a single top-end 700 card.

Edit: did some more testing.Inspired by a review on SPCR, I ran Furmark in combination with Prime64. Just running Prime64 made my computer draw 150W from the wall. Starting Furmark on top of that would make the powerdraw go to 350-360W. I also ran IntelBurnTest on top of that, but that hardly made a difference. (I guess Prime64 is enough to max out the CPU).So the videocard seemed to be able to use 200-210W. When I'm already at 360W, a 2nd gtx680 would make my maximum power increase to 570W. That's over the max. Maximum is 500W to components, at 95% efficiency (at 230V), which gives the number 526W. A second gtx680 could cause my power consumption 8.3% over budget.

Furmark is an extreme application. I guess under realworld scenarios, I would never use that much. And I would stay within 500W while playing games. But as I said, it would be pushing it. I rather overclock my gtx680, increase the powerbudget by 30%. And/or overclock my CPU a bit more (4.0Ghz->4.4GHz).

I also did the test to see how my cooling is doing.I ran the test for 30 minutes. Room temp is 20C (estimate).CPU cores all ran 65-70C. GPU ran at 43-47C. HDDs stayed at 26-28C.Not bad, I think.

Last edited by Gryzemuis on Mon Apr 22, 2013 3:55 am, edited 1 time in total.

Why do they need to export when they are an own brand of a US retailer? Plus have you considered that as part of their rebranding deal they might only be allowed to sell these in the US? It is possible that a commercial limitation such as this exists.

FYI this PSU is on sale at newegg until 5/15/2013 or until the funds run out.

The PSU is discounted to $140 plus there is another 20% coupon you can use bringing the total down to about $118 after shipping. Not the greatest price on a fanless PSU (I'm still kicking myself for not buying Seasonic 460fl in the beginning of 2012 on supersale), however it's the best price there is right now on a quality fanless power supply if you need or want one right now.

EDIT: received my rosewill last week and installed tonight. I'm kind of disappointed. It has quite significant droning buzz under load. Now I knew about the buzz from the review, but it's much louder than I anticipated. I'm kind of bummed out, I got fanless power supply because I was tired of fans going bad in my power supplies. When I say bad I don't mean dying, but starting to chirp. All three of my last power supplies developed a noisy fan after a couple of years of use, so I thought I'd be good by going fanless, well, I was wrong. Sigh... I guess this means I still need to watch out for a sale on fanless seasonics...

EDIT 2: I think I might have actually wronged rosewill/superflower. I completely forgot but that droning buzz might be coming from the corsair pump I have in my computer for the RED mod. I can't really test it but I think the power supply is silent.

Out of curiosity, what do you guys think is the preferred way to mount the power supply in a case like P280, fins up or fins down? If I put it fins up then the ATX/AUX/PCIE power cables are away from motherboard so they can't reach as far especially if you route your cables behind the motherboard tray. However, if you mount the PSU with the power cables close to the motherboard tray, i.e. fins down, then would it not hinder the heat dissipation? What are your thoughts?

Would definitely try to align the fins so airflow passes them along the channels. It's that or get airflow into the main chamber itself, because the bottom is probably blocked by the PCB(s).

So fins top for me (if that is where your airflow is). Natural convenction and dissipation by radiation I would not trust.

PS. Hate it when the mobo cables are inconveniently placed on the PSU, but an extension doesn't cost too much and they have been reliable in my use so far. Don't need one currently though - thanks mATX!

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 3 guests

You cannot post new topics in this forumYou cannot reply to topics in this forumYou cannot edit your posts in this forumYou cannot delete your posts in this forumYou cannot post attachments in this forum